people's faces in public. it's the best thing in the world today. let it fly. to touch them on ot people's faces in public, it's the best thing today. let it fly, gov. "first look" is up next. congressional stalemate. house republicans dig in on the payroll tax cut extension, demanding the senate reopen negotiations. lights out. the "monday night football" steelers/49ers matchup is held up twice by power outages. and stepping out. england's prince william and his wife, kate, attend a royal military awards gala. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

and we begin this morning with deadlocked. now, millions of workers may end up paying the price if lawmakers in washington can't work out their differences in time to extend payroll tax cuts before they expire december 31st. insiders say house republicans trying to scuttle a senate deal may try to prevent a much-anticipated vote on the house floor today. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on all of this. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. one lawmaker who's been around here a long time says "it's the weirdest thing i've ever seen." all but two democrats in the senate and 83% of republicans supported the short-term extension before they left town, but the house now says it's not good enough. house leaders announce late last night the two-month extension the democrats and republicans agreed to in the senate won't even get a vote on their side. >> our members do not want to

just punch and do a two-month, short-term fix where we have to come back and do this again. >> my guess is that they're afraid that their members are not going to stick with them. >> reporter: republicans are pushing for a conference, a few members on each side to come back to washington and work out a new plan. democrats claim it's a ploy to kill the tax break. they say republicans never wanted in the first place. >> we're not going to play. >> reporter: republicans say they're willing to work through christmas and accuse democrats of putting their vacations ahead of 160 million working americans. >> the senate say they're not coming back, they're saying that they want to raise taxes on the middle class. that's what they're saying. >> reporter: democrats on both sides say they won't participate in a conference. the white house is shaking its head. >> we have some senate republicans now coming out today saying, you know, please, to their colleagues, please, to the house republicans, pass this. this is crazy not to do this. >> reporter: your paycheck still

in limbo with less than two weeks before this tax break runs out. now, here's an interesting note. john boehner, the house speaker, last summer called extending the payroll tax break a short-term gimmick. now at the end of the year, against the deadline, he's insisting on doing it for an entire year. lynn? >> all right, there you go. in washington, tracie potts. thank you so much. last night on "the last word with lawrence o'donnell," lawrence and democratic congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz discussed late-breaking rumors that republican leaders in the house wouldn't even allow a promise vote on the payroll tax bill and why. >> we've adjourned for the evening. the house republicans didn't bring the vote up -- didn't bring the senate bill up for a vote tonight, pushed it to tomorrow, and now we're hearing that the rules committee is going to basically punt the legislation, we're not going to have a vote on the bill at all, and we're just going to have a

vote on a motion to go to conference with the senate. because i think what you alluded to a minute ago, lawrence, is exactly the problem republicans face. they probably have a couple dozen of their members that want to vote for the bill that are in districts that they are very vulnerable to a loss next year, and if they vote against a middle class tax cut and extending that middle class tax cut right at the holidays, and they know that that is going to cause the economy some harm, they don't want to be in that situation. so the republican leadership, i think, can't defeat this bill tomorrow if they bring it up for a vote, so they're not going to bring it up. that's shocking, it's outrageous, it's not letting the democratic process work its will. >> watch "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" week nights at 10:00 p.m. eastern only on msnbc, the place for politics. well, elsewhere, a new "washington post"/abc news poll finds the nation's republicans are sharply divided over their top pick for president. after a recent surge in the polls, former house speaker newt

gingrich has fallen back into a dead heat with former massachusetts governor mitt romney, both with 30%. texas congressman ron paul came in a distant second with 15%. meanwhile, that same poll found that while most americans still disapprove of president obama's handling of the economy, his overall approval rating is at its highest since march, at 49%. with uncertainty surrounding the future in north korea this morning, mourners are paying their last respects to their late supreme leader, kim jong-il. in a glass coffin surrounded by flowers, the longtime ruler's body has been laid out for a week-long viewing. kim jong-un, il's third son and successor, joined top north korean officials who gathered to visit his father's coffin. meanwhile, distraught mourners gathered in public plazas throughout the country. a funeral will be held for kim jong-il december 28th. back here at home, parts of the southwest and central plains

are getting hammered by a deadly snowstorm that's unleashed heavy snow and fierce winds. blizzard conditions are being blamed for at least two deaths in colorado, while whiteout conditions are making for treacherous travel in new mexico, oklahoma and northwestern kansas. in the texas panhandle, national guard troops were called to assist in nearly 100 rescues after a major interstate was shut down last night. of course, our own nbc meteorologist, bill karins, is going to have much more just in a moment on that storm, but first, let's get you your "first look" at some of the other news going on around america. a shocking videotaped assault on a homeless man has led to the arrest of his attackers. this is disturbing. the two suspects led police straight to themselves after posting their video on youtube. it shows one assailant battering the victim and bloodying his nose before wishing him a merry christmas and stealing his bike. just sick. police are unaware of the

homeless man's whereabouts. a rash of recent attacks like this one on a mom with her child has forced milwaukee police to assign officers to ride on troubled bus routes. police will ride the buses and patrol bus stops in an effort to keep the rising number of incidents under control. a couple of stranded teens were rescued from a steep canyon near phoenix. they became lost after venturing off from one of the boys' mother. a responding rescue crew used long ropes to pull the boys to safety. and finally, here's some happy news. a pennsylvania man's tradition of decorating his home continued this year, and it was all thanks to his neighbor. when back and heart surgery kept charles from putting up his usual lights and other ornaments, that guy, jim, stepped in. he spent over nine hours turning the yard into an especially festive christmas display. that's an understatement there, puts a lot of us to shame.

now for a look at your national weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins with your weather channel forecast. are you shaking your head because puts you to shame as well? >> nine hours is a long time. >> just 15 minutes, throwing up a couple strings there on the front porch? not even close? >> no, i didn't even do that. >> not even that? wow! >> not even that. the star's up on the tree, though. >> family man of the year. >> that was an accomplishment. listen, when you're dealing with two kids under 2 at home, not a lot of time for that stuff. good morning, everyone. we're dealing with a big winter storm. lynn was showing you the pictures earlier. interstates are still troublesome, interstate 40 as you head west out of texas into monday fl. in, still a mess, even though the snow is stopped, but the wind's still blowing, so some of that's drifting. 10 to 20 inches is the highest snowfall total i've seen, east of colorado and western kansas. the worst of it this morning is now in kansas. it's slowly coming to an end. this is pretty rural out here, garden city, dodge city, colby, kansas, hayes, kansas i've been

through some of these towns when i was out there tornado chasing. not a lot of people live in this area. it's mostly the truckers that are being inconvenienced by the shutdowns of the interstates. i think by later today, the storm will weaken enough that those will be opened up, and for traveling, should be okay. now, the moisture streaming out ahead of this -- typically when we get a big storm out west in december, it heads east and we're talking about snow all along it, but temperatures are so warm in the eastern half of the country, this is mostly just rain this morning coming up through st. louis, peoria, lafayette. a little, narrow sliver of snow near ft. wayne, but even there, the temperature's near 34, so it's melting when it hits the pavement. same story for northern ohio, where you may see some snowflakes, but the ground should be fine. we've got rain and thunderstorms heading from areas from houston to shreveport. louisiana will get some downpours as this goes through, also in mississippi, count on that, too. and in memphis, grab your umbrella, you'll get some rain. i mentioned the warm air, though. temperatures in the 40s and 30s all the way up through new england. that's why we're not dealing with a big snow and ice storm,

as this system out west heads east. today's forecast, just some rain showers in chicago and the ohio valley and rain in the southeast. that's a look at your national forecast, lynn. we'll have updates on tomorrow's forecast coming up. >> bill, thanks so much. also coming up, bank of america sinks, at&t gives up, and big deal for a struggling american defense contractor. your "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. what happens when the lights turn out on "monday night football"? we will show you. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] the healing power of touch

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry and here's some of the top stories making news this morning. iraq's shiite-led government has issued an arrest warrant for the country's sunni vice president, accusing him of running a death squad that assassinated police officers and government officials. the move comes a day after the last u.s. troops left iraq and was blasted by republican senators john mccain and lindsey graham, who argued the u.s. withdrawal was premature. egyptian security forces and

opponents of army rule are clashing for a fifth straight day near cairo's tahrir square. a retired egyptian army general and current adviser on the ruling military council said protesters "deserve to be thrown into hitler's ovens," joint condemnation from human rugts groups. the president of the philippines has declared a state of national calamity as the death toll from a typhoon and flooding grew to nearly 1,000. entire villages were reportedly washed away while tens of thousands have been left homeless. surprising, new numbers from a study in the journal "pediatrics." at least 30% of americans say they had been arrested by the time they turned 23. that's a sharp increase from the mid-1960s when only 22% reported being arrested by that same age. and last night in london, looking fabulous, the duke and duchess of cambridge, prince

william and kate, attended a gala awards ceremony to honor the bravery of members of england's armed forces. kate reportedly wore a black, strapless alexander mcqueen dress and jewelry given to her as a wedding gift. and now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens today at 11,766 after losing 100 points yesterday. the s&p fell 14 points and the nasdaq dropped 32. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei gained 40 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng nudged up nine. well, financials pulled stocks lower monday, dragged down by european worries and bank of america. stocks across the board fell late after bank of america fell below $5 a share for the first time in nearly three years. more than 29 million bank of america shares traded more than 5% of the day's total volume. also weighing on banks, a "wall

street journal" report, the federal reserve wants u.s. banks to hold more capital in reserve than required by law. in fact, this week, the fed is expected to release much-anticipated rules overseeing the largest u.s. banks, including capital and liquidity requirements mandated by congress after the financial crisis. in europe, looking to impress markets with firm action, instead, european finance ministers blunder, unable to come up with the 200 billion euros they vowed to give to the international monetary fund to help struggling european countries. back here at home, december's homebuilder sentiment hit its highest level since may 2010. in company news, at&t officially dropped its controversial $39 billion bid for t-mobile. winn-dixie surged after going private in a $560 million all-cash deal with buy low. commercial metals fell after rejecting a $1.7 billion takeover bid from carl icahn.

"the new york times" is nearing a sale of 16 regional newspapers to halifax media. this morning, japan ordered 42 lockheed martin f-35 fighter jets in a deal worth billions. and finally, standing by her man has earned the wife of the philandering former imf chief, dominique strauss-kahn, the title of france's woman of the year in a nationwide poll. really, france? really? a top 20 college basketball upset is coming up, and last-minute nhl excitement on the ice. plus, national embarrassment for san francisco, as the lights go out on "monday night football," twice. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] now there's a mileage card that offers special perks on united, like a free checked bag,

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. and in sports, normally, in san francisco's candlestick park, it's the wind and the weather. well, last night on "monday night football," it was the lights. almost kind of funny. here's nbc's mario solis. >> good morning. 49ers and steelers, an electric matchup on "monday night football," but the electricity didn't hold up. power outage in san francisco just before kickoff. a transformer blew, cutting electricity to the ironically named candlestick park. 20-minute delay, and then there was football, until the second quarter, when it happened again. near-complete blackout at the stadium, this time 60 minutes without power. then the niners turn out the lights on the steelers.

in the fourth, frank gore powers his way into the end zone. niners win 20-3, improving to 11-3. steelers fall to 10-4. college basketball. last time kansas played davidson, the elite 8 back in '08, jayhawks squeaked out a 2-point win en route to capturing the national title. last night the upstart school looking for payback. the number 11 kansas team getting all they could handle in kc. cochran on fire from downtown, hitting four 3-pointers. 21 points for cochran. davidson gets revenge, upsetting the jayhawks 80-74. hockey in denver, flyers down a goal to the havs in the final minute. this works to perfection. daniel briere behind the net, tying goal with 18 seconds to play. goal given to wayne simmons, but philly doesn't care who gets credit. they go to a shoot-out. it's up to rookie matt reid, but his first career shoot-out try hits the crossbar. colorado holds off the flyers, 3-2. bruins at canadiens in boston. first period.

rich peverley wins the face-off, slides the puck to benoit pulio. the game in the third, bruins force the turnover. patrice bergeron to brad americhand, scores as he falls to the ice. what a goal. bruins win 3-2, fifth straight win for the defending stanley cup champs. and that's your "first look" at sports. i'm mario solis. now for another look at the weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins. good morning, once again, bill. >> good morning, lynn. lots going on with the big winter storm in the middle of the country, and now we've got a battle going on in areas of the east, where the cold air is trying to hold on, warm air is moving in at the same time. the cold front's going to keep new england dry today, because that's pushing to the south. that's dry air up there. but back here towards pittsburgh, just to the north of pittsburgh, we actually have reports of snow out there. pittsburgh itself right now just mostly rain, buts don't be surprised to see wet snowflakes mixing in early today. temperatures, though, will warm up nuenough, the roads will be fine around much of pennsylvania. 49 in pittsburgh.

temperatures around new england will be on the cooler side, dropping throughout the day. it's pretty warm this morning. as the cold front goes through, we'll cool off. all that, troublesome weather's out here in kansas, we've got rain heading through much of the ohio valley. as far as wet weather goes and airport troubles, maybe just new orleans, through alabama and mississippi, lynn. tomorrow, that rain heads to the east coast. >> all right, thanks so much. coming up, big showbiz splits and big internet confusion over who passed away. plus, could a new deal be in the works to make this guy the james bond of all time? your "first look" at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. this new at&t 4g lte is fast. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you! oh, facecake! there's some leftover cake. [ male announcer ] the new htc vivid. stay a step ahead with at&t 4g lte, with speeds up to 10x faster than 3g.

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you guys, kim jong-il, you know, the crazy leader of north korea who hated us, that guy? he passed away over the weekend. and get this, his 28-year-old son, kim jong-un, is taking over. it won't be easy, because he's got some big women's sunglasses to fill. >> and tonight, jimmy welcomes "mission impossible: ghost protocol" star tom cruise and musical guest rufus wainright. that's a late night with jimmy fallon" on your local nbc station. now time for entertainment news. he is the current big-screen 007, and if producers have their say, daniel craig will be the record-breaker. currently shooting "sky fall," his third james bond film. producers have approached craig with a deal to do five more. where are you going to get -- that would make eight total, one more than both roger moore and the original man with the license to kill --

>> you shouldn't be able to do that. >> this is the guy, sean connery. that's classic. oscar-winning actress jessica lange and pulitzer prize-winning play right sam sheppa sheppard, who have been together since 1989 and have two grown children together have separated and have been apart for two years and just now announced it. in another split, chaz bono and jennifer ilya have not only called off their engagement after six years, they've called off their whole relationship. and finally, you just can't make this stuff up. the death sunday night of north korean leader kim jong-il led to some major confusion about rapper lil' kim. >> she's okay? >> she's fine, but rumors of her death swirled all over the internet, including from detroit's former mayor, who tweeted asking if it was true. really, detroit mayor, really? i mean, i know that there's the kim and il and lil kind of look alike, but we're smarter than this, aren't we? >> no. how many people knew who the

korean dictator was? >> don't give them that much credit? come on! i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. after shying away from the media for months, mitt romney is taking to the airwaves, yesterday appearing in prime time and late night to boost his cred. meanwhile, romney's super pacs are throwing the proverbial kitchen sink at newt gingrich, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on iowa ads. the question is, with only two weeks to go to the caucuses, does anyone have the resources to compete with mitt? dysfunction has hit a new level in washington today. hard to believe. house republicans say they will reject the payroll tax extension that many of their colleagues in the senate supported. the question is, with taxes set to be raised on 160 million americans, will this be political poison for the gop? and lights